Thought of the Day – 6/30/2015 – Paxton’s Paradox

Imagine an empty room.

It is a smaller room, approximately eight feet by ten feet with the ceiling at an average height.

The walls and ceiling are perfectly white – so unblemished you can almost smell the paint in the air.

The floor is wall to wall linoleum in an equally pristine shade of white.

There are no windows, but the room is well-lit from the ceiling.

In the middle of the room, there is a small table.  It too, is white.

On top of the table sit three items:

• A brand new loaf of store-bought sliced bread*.
• A half-empty jar of peanut butter
• A stainless steel butter knife.

*Ironically, the bread is whole grain wheat; not white.  But that is irrelevant.

Nothing else is in the room.

I guarantee that if you placed me in this room and asked me to make a peanut butter sandwich I would not be able to locate the bag clip or twist-tie used to close the bread bag – especially it if said clip or tie was any color other than white.

*Random factoid:  in many cases, the color of the bag tag or twist-tie relates to when the bread was packaged.  This is Snopes verified, people.

After frantically searching the all white room for the blue twist-tie or sea-foam green bag clip*, I would give up and just spin the loaf real fast to close it.

Finally, after notifying the bag clip’s next of kin, I decide to move on and enjoy my sandwich.  As I raise my PB-sans-J to my lips, I’ll spot the bag clip or tie right where I left it.

Exactly where I had looked 87 times in the last five minutes.

*   *   *

Author’s note:  The title “Paxton’s Paradox” is an obscure reference to Mr. Floyd Paxton, owner of Kwik Lok Corporation – the company that makes the plastic bag clips.

Happy Third Blogiversary to Me

I realized this morning that I missed the 3rd birthday of Feit Can Write.  Way back on August 17, 2011, I launched Feit Can Write with this post*.

*Technically, my blog was originally called “Feit for your Write” (hence the Beastie Boys reference in that initial post), and was launched on another blogging platform.  I upgraded the name and moved it over to WordPress about a week later.

Looking back at my very humble beginnings, I’m impressed by what I’ve built here.  In the last three years, I’ve posted 375 things, hopefully cementing my status as the web’s go to source for posts on Nebraska football, adoption, and silly lists.  A guilty pleasure is to go back and re-read some of my old pieces.  While there are some things I’d change (a phrasing choice here and there as well as the typos and dropped words that my editor doesn’t always catch), I’m almost always pleased with what I’ve written.  I like that.

In the early days, the readership was limited to immediate family members and a handful of Facebook friends who didn’t have anything better to do.  Now, WordPress shows me with almost 700 followers.  As I’ve mentioned previously, I think a good chunk of these are spam accounts, but I’m thrilled and honored to have a couple of hundred people who legitimately follow what I write.

And the readership…I distinctly remember repeatedly hitting refresh on my stats page on December 31, 2011, hoping that I would get my 2,000th all time view before the year ended (I did).  I was super pumped to hit 2,000 views in four months.  Earlier this month, I had over 2,000 views in a single day (a perfect storm of Nebraska Football, new uniforms, and a click-bait title).  Also this month, Feit Can Write surpassed 50,000 views all time.  I’m humbled and honored that people are coming here (even by mistake or bad Google search) and I hope people like what they read.

What’s next?  Well, football season is about to start so I expect to be busier with that.  The Feit Can Write world headquarters is moving in a few weeks, which means free time is going to be cut down.  I’m behind pace on the number of posts I want for this year, so hopefully I can pick up the volume while balancing work, home, and family.  I do take requests, so if there anything you’d like to see me write on, let me know.

As always, I appreciate the contributions for every one of you – your readership, compliments, shares, likes, comments, and continued support for this little endeavor.

 

Why I Write (Y)

There is a question I’ve heard a handful of times over the last three years:

Why do you write your blog?

Obviously, it’s not for the money.  To date, I’ve made around zero dollars from feitcanwrite.com and my writing for nocoastbias.com.  I do get a little bit from HuskerMax.com, but it’s best if I think about how I’ve spent my earnings (a nice meal for my wife and a new DSLR camera for me) as opposed to what I make per hour.

So no, I don’t write for the money.  It’s not that I’m opposed to being paid (and if you need any freelance writing done, drop me a line), but with three kids, a mortgage, and car payments, it will probably be a while before I quit my day job.

It’s not about the fame/notoriety/attention either.  Don’t get me wrong:  I am an avid checker of my site statistics to see the number of pages views and followers I have.  I like it when you guys “Like” a post (either here or on Facebook).  I love it when you comment or share something I’ve written.  Those interactions mean a lot to me.  Although they are not a primary motivation, I love knowing that people connect with, enjoy, or even disagree/hate what I’ve written.

But I’m realistic enough to know that there is a ceiling.  I’m not going to be stopped in the middle of Target by somebody saying “are you the guy who writes that blog?”.  While I’m currently adding about five new followers a week, I suspect that many of them are spam accounts*.

*Unless, like David Hasselhoff, I am wildly popular in countries that do not speak English.  That is certainly possible as the song “Feit” is obviously a huge hit overseas.

I think it would be really cool to have something go viral and be shared thousands of times across the country, generating tens of thousands of hits.  But that is something that just happens – not something you set out to do.

So why do I write?

I write because:

I enjoy it.  This is the closest thing to a hobby I have.  Besides, other pursuits (golf, hunting, woodworking, building ships in glass bottles, etc.) don’t interest me.

I sometimes need it to clear out my head.  I’ve talked before about the little guy in my head who feeds me all of my good lines.  There are days when that dude has a lot to say.  Left unchecked, he fills up my brain with thoughts and ideas and snarky bullet point lists.  Eventually, these things take up so much of my internal processing that I struggle to focus on other tasks.  If I don’t get them jotted down in a post or in my virtual notebook, they go spilling out of my ears and are lost forever.

I like to share my opinion, and possibly shape how something/someone is viewed.  I don’t go political very often, because I believe political opinions are too ingrained.  (I could do 5,000 words telling you Party X is wrong and Party Y is right, but it won’t have any impact on how you view the situation).  But on other topics – specifically, Nebraska Football – I love having a platform to help shape how something is viewed.  I enjoy the opportunity to call out fans for overreacting, praise players for small things that might go unnoticed, or provide a voice of reason among the talk radio and message board extremists.  I like that a lot.  I’ve also been an advocate for adoption on this site, and I cherish being able to share our experiences and my opinions.

It is a good outlet for my creativity.  I don’t paint, sketch, or doing anything related to arts and crafts.  Writing allows me to stretch my brain, look at the world from (hopefully) a unique perspective, and have some fun.  I enjoy the creative challenge of writing a post with exactly 1,000 words or starting each sentence with a different letter of the alphabet, or coming up with silly things like rejected tributes to Tom Osborne.  Those things are great for my brain and they get the creative juices flowing.

I’m good at it.  There, I said it.  I try to be pretty humble about my writing, but let’s be honest here:  there are some horrible blogs cluttering up the internet.  I like to think that I am one worth following and reading.  I wrote my first Husker piece because I was unsatisfied by the other offerings on the web (a polite way of saying that I thought they all sucked).  I knew I could do something better, so I did.  I realize that I’m not going to win very many awards (aside from the virtual blogging awards that remind me of chain letters), but I’m okay with having an ego about the things I write.  I make a conscientious effort to only publish things that I’m happy with – and willing to put my name/reputation on.  The rest lives in my Drafts folder awaiting revisions or a trip to the trash can.

And there you have it.  I doubt there are too many surprises in there.  There may other reasons why I write tucked way down in my subconscious thoughts, but unless my loyal readers are going to chip in for a psychiatrist, that is where they will stay.

As always, I thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing.

*   *   *

(Author’s note:  Wondering why there is a random letter in parentheses in the title of this post?  Not sure how this post corresponds to the daily letter in the April A to Z Challenge?  Like clicking on links?  These questions are all answered here.)

How a Dime Made Me Rich (X)

Authors note:  I’m realizing that I never wrapped up the A-Z Challenge I started in April.  Since I want to finish what I start – even if it takes longer than anticipated – we’ll get it knocked out.

*   *   *

If I’m faced with a coin flip option, I am always going to pick heads.

Always.

With very little exaggeration, I can say that almost every good thing in my adult life can be traced back to a single flip of a coin.  God only knows where I would be today, what I would be doing, and who I would be doing it with if I had said “tails”.

And it all started with a very lucky dime.

*   *   *

For much of this story to make sense, we need to set the stage.  The year is 2002.  My buddy Tony is marrying the love of his life, and I’m serving as his best man.  The wedding is in a small town, about three hours away.

I’m technically single, but I spend more time hanging out with my ex than the people on How I Met Your Mother.  I know there is zero future there, so I’m hoping to meet somebody new.  Unfortunately, I’m quickly realizing that I probably won’t meet anybody at this wedding – for whatever reason, there are not a lot of single ladies at this event.

One of the other groomsmen (Chad) in the wedding party is also single, and we’ve joked that we’re going to have to fight over any eligible bachelorettes.

Early on in the reception, the battle commences.  Chad and I are introduced to Michelle by a mutual acquaintance.  Jokingly, it is pointed out that Chad and I represent all of the eligible males at the wedding, and Michelle is one of a few single females.  Somehow, it is decided that in order to settle it like gentlemen, there should be a coin toss to see who has the “right” to pursue Michelle that evening.*

*Trust me, this conversation was much more innocent, and not nearly as sexist as I’m making it sound.

One problem:  nobody has a quarter that we can flip.  Finally, we track down somebody* who has a dime and commandeer it for the official flip for Michelle’s hand.

Heads or Tails? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As the coin was flicked in the air, I called – you guessed it – heads.  The reveal showed Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s handsome face.  I had won.

*The identity of the dime’s original owner has been long forgotten, but whomever it is, I owe you ten cents.  After I won, I held onto your dime.

If this were Hollywood, this would be the part where the time lapse montage begins, possibly accompanied by “Meant to Be” by The Nadas, showing how we bonded and fell deeply in love that first night.

But O’Neill, Nebraska is a long way from Hollywood.

Over the course of the evening, I did my best to talk to Michelle, get to know her, and be as cute and charming as I could possibly muster.  This was made difficult by my best man duties (toasts, dances, doing the YMCA with the other groomsmen, and leaving to pull a prank in the honeymoon suite) as well as the fact that I really suck at flirting.

Towards the end of the night, she’s getting ready to make the drive back to Lincoln.  I ask for her phone number, and she tells me “I’m in the book”.*

A fairy tale ending, no?  I told you O’Neill, Nebraska is a long way from Hollywood.

*If you think that is a lukewarm reaction, you should know that when her roommate asked if she met anybody at the wedding, my future wife replied with “nobody I’m going to marry”.  

She likes to remind me of this when I’m being difficult.

*   *   *

The following week, I was going out of town on a business trip.  As I was packing Sunday night, I looked up her phone number in the phone book, and tossed it into my suitcase.  After an appropriate number of days, I called her.  We talked for a long time and I was able to secure an actual date.

I have often said that I have zero idea how somebody like her fell for somebody like me, but against all odds, I pulled it off.  Don’t believe me?  Here are some “highlights” from our dating life:

• Our first date was to a “Cajun Festival” that was woefully short on food, but long on loud music that made it tough to talk.  I struggled to hear half of what she was saying.  I did a lot of smiling and nodding.
• When I tried to kiss her goodnight, I ended up kissing the area between her upper lip and her nostrils (I thought she was taller).
• One of our first dates involved eating Long John Silvers.  In my car.  In the parking lot of Super K.*
• The first time I professed my love for her, I was on a business trip in DeKalb, Illinois.  I called her from a payphone, drunk, somewhere around midnight.  I left a message on her work voice mail.  In my defense, I had tried to call her house, but her sister – also in a lack of sobriety – kept answering and telling me to “never to call again”.  I may or may not have thrown up at some point in the next hour.
• And so many more….

*How I remained single into my late twenties is really anybody’s guess.  I was such a remarkable catch.

*   *   *

Michelle and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary in April.  Our first ten years were a whirlwind of laughter, tears, fun adventures and quiet nights at home.  We have endured the loss of family members, jobs, and our fertility, and have been blessed with three amazing children and a commitment  that is stronger than ever*.

*Mainly because neither one of us wants to be a single parent of three.  (Just joking, kids)

Obviously, it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows.  We’ve had to learn a lot to get to this point, and I know that I still have lots to learn, and much to improve upon as a husband.

But I’m pretty damn proud that our first ten years went by in the blink of an eye.  It bodes well for the next ten, and the ten after that, and so on.

Which is a damn good return on a ten cent investment.

*   *   *

(Author’s note II:  Wondering why there is a random letter in parentheses in the title of this post?  Not sure how this post corresponds to the daily letter in the April A to Z Challenge?  Like clicking on links?  These questions are all answered here.)

 

Surprise!

My wife and I are infertile.  I’ve long since come to grips with this, and as such, I understand there are some aspects of a fertile male’s life that I will never experience.  For example, I’ll never get to put my hand on my wife’s tummy and feel a kick.  I’ll never see a child that shares the same DNA as we do*.  I’ll never have the “delivery room” experience, or get cut an umbilical cord.**

*This is probably for the best as our collective family health risks would likely make any biological child one big, genetic time bomb.  Put it this way:  if there is a charity walk to support it, you can probably find it somewhere in our families.

**Also for the best as I’m irrationally weird about belly buttons.  Just typing this sentence makes me uncomfortable.

I am completely, perfectly, 100% fine with not experiencing these things.  Through the wonder of adoption, we have two healthy and happy children who are more beautiful than anything my flawed DNA could ever hope to be apart of.  We are blessed beyond reason.  We’ve talked about adopting again, but I’ve been firm in wanting to be done.

Or so I thought.

*  *   *

On a typical Tuesday morning (July 23, 2013), I’m sitting at my desk doing some work.  My wife calls and ask if I want to take an “early lunch”.  Looking at the clock on my PC, I see that it’s 10:29 am.

I am far from hungry, but I can tell that my wife wants to talk about something.

In person.

Now.

We agree to meet at home in 15 minutes and I head out the door.  I arrive home fully expecting to hear some job-related news.  Her department has been having some issues, and I’m wondering if she was fired.  Or if she got fed up and walked out.  Maybe she was offered a vacant management position.

We step in the house, and she tells me “_______________”.

Yeah, I have no idea what she said – either exactly or paraphrased.  It was something about a phone call from Florida.  But the message was this:

The birth mother of our son is pregnant and has chosen to place the baby for adoption.  Our adoption agency wants to know if we would accept the placement.

And just like that, I got to experience something I never thought would happen to me:  being told “You’re going to be a father” completely and totally out of the blue.

According to my wife, my initial response was “So you’re not fired?”

*   *   *

The next 20-30 minutes are a bit of a blur.  The baby is going to be a girl.  My wife always wanted to have two girls.  She’s a giddy, teary, excited mess.  She wants this.

I think of my son, picturing his beautiful face.  There is no way I could ever look into his deep, dark eyes and say “Well, buddy, Mommy and I had a chance to adopt a baby sister – your biological half-sister – but we said no.  Sorry, little dude.”  As much I was done – had you asked me 45 minutes earlier, I would have told you that I was more likely to grow a third arm than have a third child – this was a no-brainer for me.

When we called the agency’s case worker back to say “yes”, she said “Well, that was fast!”

Of course it was fast.  We’re talking about my daughter.

*   *   *

I’ll admit it:  I’m in shock.  As I type this, I still am in disbelief.

Oh yeah, there’s one other little tidbit from that first conversation with my wife that I haven’t shared yet:  this baby girl’s due date is August 19.  2013.  We don’t get nine months.  We don’t even get nine weeks.

This is a serious game changer for us.  With our previous two adoptions, we were able to plan and save.  I don’t know if you know this or not, but adoption is kind of expensive.  While my wife’s employer has some adoption benefits, it barely puts a dent in what we need.  Can I fit three car seats in my sedan?  We don’t have an open bedroom so somebody will have to double up.  There are a thousand other things that change.  The classic parenting joke of having to switch from a man-to-man to a zone defense.  Knowing that I may not sleep through the night again until 2014.  May not dine in a restaurant with my family until 2015.  May not be able to retire until 10 years after I die.

But it will all work out.  It will all be worth it.

This is my daughter.

*   *   *

As you are reading this, we’re sitting in a rented vacation home in Orlando, Florida – that’s where our daughter was born.  We’ve actually been here for a while.  We believed the birth mom would go into labor early, and since we were driving from our home in Nebraska*, we decided to take advantage of a weekend to get down here.

*Yeah, that drive was not exactly a breeze.  1,400 miles with kids that apparently are incapable of sleeping in a car – no matter the time of day.  All I know is the person who thought to put a DVD player in minivans will forever hold a fond place in my heart.  I’m sure the drive back with a newborn will be much better.

We took placement today (Saturday, August 24), and baby was discharged from the hospital into our custody. Now, we hang out here and wait for our ICPC clearance to leave Florida and reenter Nebraska.

Waiting for paperwork to process may sound like a real drag – especially to adoptive parents whose lives can feel like one giant form, but this is different.  This is relaxing, stress-free time.  This is bonding with a baby, and spending the quality family time that politicians preach about (before they go sleep with their mistress).  In short, this is heaven with take out food and a swimming pool.

*   *   *

I know most of my friends are probably reading this with their jaws dragging on the floor.

Trust me, I can relate to the disbelief you’re feeling.

I do want to apologize to you for not letting you know about this sooner.  But as you may remember, we got burned once by a failed adoption.  Even though we had absolutely no reason to believe it would happen this time, the simple truth is that until the relinquishment papers are signed, the birth mom has every right to parent this baby.  So we wanted to be guarded and protect ourselves.  Neither my wife nor I had any desire to go through the pain of having to tell everybody in our lives that we got our hearts broken.  Again.  Therefore, we decided to wait until she was born and her birth mom had signed the relinquishment papers.

I hope you can understand why we had to keep it a secret.

Besides, everybody loves a good surprise.

Baby Lexi

*   *   *

Alexandra Grace Paris Feit was born at 3:54 am on Thursday, August 22.  Lexi, as we will call her, weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She is a perfectly healthy little girl with a full head of silky black hair.  Her birth mama needed an emergency C-section*, but is recovering well.  We understand that she was released from the hospital today.

*Almost a week past her due date, little Lexi was in no hurry to be born.  We were told that she was hanging on to her birth mama as the doctor delivered her.

Her birth mom chose her first name (from the two finalists we had narrowed it down to).  Her first middle name (Grace) is the name of her great-grandma (my wife’s grandma) who is very dear to us.  Her second middle name (Paris) was given to her by her birth mom, and is the name of her grandpa (her birth mom’s daddy) who shared a birthday with Lexi.

Lexi’s big sister Jamie is over the moon, and wants nothing more than to hold her and kiss her.  Lexi’s big brother Cameron doesn’t quite grasp what is going on yet, but we’re sure that he will be a wonderful (and protective) big brother.

My beautiful family

My Day So Far…

It has been an interesting day in the Feit Can Write household.

My 14 month old son is sick, so I’m taking the day off from work to take care of him.  With a combination of growing pains, teething pains, clinginess, and a big case of the yuckies that may extend to his stomach, he is far from his usual cute and happy self.

Breakfast consisted of him shredding a waffle into thousands of pieces, then scattering those pieces all over the carpet*, like a miniature version of the guy on the Nebraska capitol building.

*Excuse me while I curse the previous owners of our home for installing carpet – and light cream colored carpet at that – in the dining room.  You had young kids, what the hell were you thinking?

With the floor cleaned up, and the little guy down for a nap, I started to call roofing companies to get estimates for the leaking skylights in our living room*.  The first place I called recognized my name, as the lovely Mrs. Feit Can Write had called them earlier in the week.  (She is usually on the ball like that).  I mentioned to the roofer that since I’d be home all day, it would be convenient if they could come out today while I’m here.  He said he’d pass that on to his estimator, who would call if he could fit me in today.

*Ah, the joys of home ownership…

I checked my work email, peeked at Facebook, and hopped in the shower so I’d be ready when the boy wakes up.  As I shut the water off, I heard a noise on the roof.  That’s not too uncommon – there is a maple tree outside my bathroom, and squirrels will sometimes climb the tree and scamper on the roof.  But this wasn’t a squirrel.

This is where I should mention that my bathroom also has a skylight.

I look up and there is a guy, on my roof, measuring my skylight.  I’m dripping wet, naked as the day I was born, and completely in his line of sight.

I dry off, get dressed quick, and head outside.  I’m not mad (I’m guessing he didn’t expect to see that either), but since he’s there I’d like to have him look at our leaking roof so we can get an estimate.  Since its going to be embarrassing and awkward for both of us, I’m ready and more than willing to employ the Man Code of “It didn’t happen if we don’t talk about it”.

Except, he’s gone.

There is no guy on our roof or in the yard.  No vehicle outside – or anywhere on our street.  No business card in the door.  Not even some flowers and a note that says “lookin’ good”.

Nothing.

I went back in and called Mrs. Feit Can Write to see if she had received a heads-up that somebody was coming to look at the roof.  My phone did not have any messages or missed calls.  She had not heard anything, but she mentioned that she thought one of the companies was planning to just show up, and not have her there*.  She got a good laugh out of the story, and I’m guessing her co-workers are currently having a good laugh at my expense too.

*I’m no contractor, but I would think it would be pretty damn tough to estimate the water damage on the inside of the house if you can’t see it.  But what do I know, I’m just some naked guy in a shower.

I’m still not real sure what just happened.  I assume we’re going to receive an estimate in the mail in a few days, as I’m confident he was holding a tape measure and not a recording device.  But I’m also pretty sure that we will not be using that company for our repairs.

So that’s where I’m at so far.  Any minute now, my son will wake up and the possibility of me being thrown up on expands greatly.  If he does, I’ll probably get cleaned up in my wife’s bathroom.

It does not have a skylight or a window.

You’re looking for what?

WordPress (the blogging platform that I use) provides some nice statistics and analytics, including how folks view my various posts – via Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.  For web searches, I’m able to see the words entered into the search engine.

Today, somebody arrived at this site by entering the following words into their search engine:

large nipple feit

I’d rather not form a mental picture of the person who is searching the interwebs for “large nipple feit”, nor am I all that curious to know if they are looking for just a single nipple, what quantifies “large” versus small or medium, or if what they were hoping to find.

But I feel safe in saying that you have come to the wrong place.

EOY Q and A

One of the blogs I read posted these questions (with a different set of answers, ‘natch) earlier today.  Since I’m a sucker for these Q & A things (and since this is a fairly easy way to get to my 12/31 six pack) here you go…

And you know the drill…feel free to play along if you wish.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?

Yikes.  First question out of the gate and I’m drawing a blank.  Rest assured there were several new experiences for me this year.  While some were as simple as “I’ve never before uttered the sentence ‘Please do not put that toy in your brother’s pants’.”, others were much more unique.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

No resolutions, per se, but I did set some goals for this blog, which is part of the reason why I’m borrowing this questionnaire.  No resolutions planned for 2013.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes – my son’s birth mother.  We haven’t had the chance to meet her yet, but hope to do so when she is ready.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

I did not leave the country this year.  Hopefully that changes next year, as Mrs. Feit Can Write and I would like to spend a few days on a warm beach with cold drinks.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?

Disposable income.  Sleep.  Rain.

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

My son was born on March 11, and we got the call about adopting him on March 12.  We flew to Florida the next day, and I held him for the first time on March 13.  The adoption was finalized on June 27.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Being a good dad to my kids.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Hmm…nothing comes to mind.  That means I was either pretty damn good this year or I forget about my failures.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing besides a cold.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I’d like for this to be less materialistic, but since I’m otherwise drawing a blank, I’ll say my new HD TV.  A nice upgrade from my 15-year-old 27″ set.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My daughter.  She has made the transition from only child to loving big sister with surprising ease.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Politicians (of all parties).

14. Where did most of your money go?

Adoption expenses, car payment, and other household bills

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

I went from being bummed about a failed adoption to having a beautiful and healthy son – in less than 36 hours.  That’s rather exciting.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

“Home” by Phillip Phillips.  Partially because it is a good song, and partially because it was everywhere.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

It’s like my 2012 was a big meal at an expensive restaurant:  Happier, fatter, and poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Spending more time with friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Changing diapers, washing bottles, other things that keep me away from my family.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Enjoying the magic of the season through the eyes of my four-year old daughter.  She asked Santa for a “big box” and was thrilled to receive it.  Any other gifts were gravy to her.

21. Did you fall in love in 2012?

Yep.  With a handsome black man.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

We finally started watching Modern Family, which is the laugh out loud show that I’ve been missing

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope.

24. What was the best book you read?

A confession – the only time I read books is when I’m on vacation laying by the pool.  Since that didn’t happen this year, I didn’t finish any books.  But I read a number of good articles in Sports Illustrated.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Not really a new discovery, but I still very much love listening to The Nadas.  Do yourself a favor and listen too.

26. What did you want and get?

I got way more than I deserved.

27. What did you want and not get?

I’ve got a pretty big list of things I “want”, but I can’t complain about not getting anything – especially since all of my “needs” are more than taken care of.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

We saw a lot of movies this year – which for us is three.  Wreck-It Ralph was easily the best.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I celebrated the 38th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation by spending the day relaxing at home.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Winning Powerball?

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?

I’ve never previously described my “personal fashion concept”, but I guess I’d go with comfy-casual.

32. What kept you sane?

My wife and kids, Football Saturdays, taking 10 minutes for myself, Jim Beam & Diet Coke.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Are we asking which celebs I have the hots for?  Hmm…there are lots of attractive celebrities, but no one person stands out.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The safe answer is “the entire election.”  Since I don’t feel like stirring up a lot of trouble, I’ll stick with that.

35. Who did you miss?

My Dad.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

This is a cop-out answer, but I’ll say my son.  I think he’s pretty great.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

Don’t get too low – Something good is always around the corner.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

“Everyone can wake up / To a brand new day / The sky will come alive turning blue from grey” – The Nadas, New Year’s Eve

Life Lessons from a Football Shoe

Yesterday, I posted about a viral video teasing the football cleats Nebraska will wear against Wisconsin.  I wrote about it because the topic had a number of things that appealed to me – Husker football, uniforms, a timely topic, marketing, and the opportunity to be creative and sarcastic.

I figured it would be one of those things that would primarily appeal to me, and a handful of others.  I acknowledged this with an asterisked aside in the post:

The video does a decent job of generating interest – at least for those of us who are moderately obsessive about Nebraska, uniforms, or fancy shoes*

*Writing about such broad and popular topics, it is a wonder that my readership isn’t in the millions.

So obviously this post racked up the views yesterday.  Thanks to this piece, FeitCanWrite had its best readership day yet – a 50% jump over my previous best day*.

*I won’t bore you with the numbers (or make you sad with my pedestrian stats), but my readership still has not reached the millions….Yet….

It just goes to show two important life lessons:

1) In life, whenever you are sure of something, you should prepare yourself for the opposite to happen.

2) Never underestimate the passion of Nebraska football fans.

Year in Review

Today marks the 1 Year Anniversary of Feit Can Write.  What started as a (in part) a vehicle for me to further a freelance writing lifestyle has turned into a major creative outlet and a platform for me to share my views and opinions with the world*.

*Or at least the microscopic corner of the world that is friends with me on Facebook.  Also – I am definitely available for any freelance writing needs that you may have.

 

Random Feit Can Write facts and stats from the past year:

• Over 8,000 page views, at least 40 of which came from people outside of my family and Facebook friends.
• Readers (or at least accidental clicks) from over 60 different countries, including Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, and Northern Mariana Islands.
• 138 posts (not including this one)
• The most read post was about my plan to blow up college football.
• The Thought of the Day from Nov. 30 has drawn four measly views (which is sad, because I think this one is pretty good).
• 139 reader comments.  Let’s pick it up a little bit here people.  Most of these comments are either me responding to somebody or the…um…interesting dude who berated/threatened me pretty for my thoughts on Penn State.  This year, I’d like to see some more interaction from my dozens of faithful readers.  Tell me what you like, what you hate, or feel free to be like our pal Marty and threaten karma on my ___ for no good reason.
• My work has been co-posted on huskermax.com and the Kansas City Star’s website.
• The two Google search phrases that have driven the most viewers to this site?  “Meaning of Feit” and “Zuri Garibovi“.
• Other Google search phrases that led people here include:  “normal looking guy”, “mizzou trough urinal”, and “gays per capita city lincoln, ne”.  I hope you found what you were looking for.

Without turning this into a weird mix of the clip show episode of a sitcom and an awkward awards ceremony thank you speech, I’d like to thank you all for reading, commenting, Liking, sharing, and any other feedback you give me.  While I’d probably still be doing this if I was the only one reading it, it definitely makes it more special for me to know that others are drawing enjoyment from what I’m doing.

Thanks again!

dave